Betting And Advertising System

ABSTRACT

An internet based betting and advertising platform where players can place bets on various forms of events, including sport events, social events, stock market, television events as long as the outcome of the event can be determined by searching the internet. Players are provided play money each time they login. Players are exposed to an advertisement. At the end of a predetermined time frame, within specific area code subsets, or break points, whoever has the most play money will be awarded with a prize provided by a sponsor.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

The present application relates to an internet based betting system, andmore particularly to a betting system that allows for advertising andprovides for betting winners from sponsors.

Note that the points discussed below may reflect the hindsight gainedfrom the disclosed inventions, and are not necessarily admitted to beprior art.

It is fun, exciting and entertaining to place bets on the outcome ofgames or sporting events such as American football, internationalsoccer, tennis, hockey, horse racing, NASCAR auto racing, greyhounddogs, baseball, volleyball, and golf etc. The betting is typicallyperformed by a person placing his bet with a friend or another playingperson, and the losing side pays.

There are many gaming and betting systems designed for entertainingpurposes. For example US 2008/0085770 describes an internet real timegaming and betting system that allows users to select blocks from agaming matrix to bet on. The games can be sporting events, communityevents. Payouts can be monetary, points, prizes, non-monetary rewards orcompliments collected from users. But this system does not include anyelement of sponsors or advertisers, and the users pay to play thesystem.

Another US Patent Application, US 2008/0066111 describes an interactivescoreboard which may be displayed with various game status and alerticons. The interactive scoreboard may allow a viewer to quickly tunebetween high-interest sporting events, and to play with sports-specificfeatures, such as wagering and fantasy league support. But this systemis for interactive media guidance, it does not allow bets oversearchable social events, or allow advertisers taking advantage of thepopularity of bets using the system.

US 2008/0039192 Patent Application also describes a medium thatfacilitates personal wagering for sporting or non-sporting events. Userswager against each other. Users can wager for property, goods, servicesor items with non-monetary value. But this system plays with real money,it is not for pure entertaining of the users. Also advertisers are notpart of the system.

US 2007/0060380 Patent Application describes an internet-enabled systemfor generating TV channels having fantasy betting sports games.

US 2007/0293307 describes an apparatus that allows players to bet onoutcomes of gambling games and contests using points provided fromsponsors, and also allows for player exposures to advertisement. Thesystem allows a player to redeem the points accumulated from bets won.Although this is a very interesting betting system that players do notneed to have real money, and they win real money from sponsors. But thissystem does not reward winners who have accumulated the most points fora specific period of time. Also it does not allow players to win pointsfrom betting correctly on social events or other sports other thanonline offshore gambling games.

SUMMARY

The present application discloses new approaches to online betting andadverting system that creates entertainment for players for betting onvarious searchable events, from sports to social events, televisionreality shows, to win play money from a sponsor for being a winner in aspecified period of time or in a geographic area or as specificbreakpoint. (breakpoint=when a certain amount of play money isaccumulated through betting there will then be different awards given bysponsors)

In one embodiment, players are assigned play money each time at login.Players are exposed to advertisements and may search for events to beton.

In another embodiment, advertisers and/or sponsors are allowed to loginto bid on events to advertise and/or provide sponsorship for a givenperiod.

In another embodiment, winners are selected for a given geographic areaand or breakpoints.

In another embodiment, winners are selected for a specified period oftime.

The system provides entertainment for players in betting and being awinner as a result of a collective outcome of various bets over a periodof time, not just one game. It encourages players to search for variousevents to take interest and to bet on and therefore it providesentertainment for a broader base of players and broadens the base fortargeted advertisement than other described gaming and gambling systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosed invention will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, which show important sample embodiments of theinvention and which are incorporated in the specification hereof byreference, wherein:

FIG. 1 schematically shows the interactions of the components of anexample betting and advertising system in accordance with thisapplication.

FIG. 2 schematically shows example components of the user interface ofan example betting and advertising system in accordance with thisapplication.

FIG. 3 schematically shows example categories of events available forbetting on the user interface of an example betting and advertisingsystem in accordance with this application.

FIGS. 4 and 5 schematically shows an example user interface forsearching and selecting events for betting in an example betting andadvertising system in accordance with this application.

FIG. 6 schematically shows an example user interface for placing bets inan example betting and advertising system in accordance with thisapplication.

FIG. 7 schematically shows an example user interface for advertisers andsponsors in an example betting and advertising system in accordance withthis application.

FIG. 8 schematically shows an example mechanism in generating winners inan example betting and advertising system in accordance with thisapplication.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The numerous innovative teachings of the present application will bedescribed with particular reference to presently preferred embodiments(by way of example, and not of limitation). The present applicationdescribes several embodiments, and none of the statements below shouldbe taken as limiting the claims generally.

For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figuresillustrate the general manner of construction, and description anddetails of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in thedrawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, some areas orelements may be expanded to help improve understanding of embodiments ofthe invention.

The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in thedescription and the claims, if any, may be used for distinguishingbetween similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particularsequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the termsso used are interchangeable. Furthermore, the terms “comprise,”“include,” “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to covernon-exclusive inclusions, such that a process, method, article,apparatus, or composition that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elementsnot expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article,apparatus, or composition.

In reference to FIG. 1, an entertainment betting and advertisementsystem includes a central server 101 which has processing system fordata collecting and processing, databases built for players andadvertisers, data input system to collect contents from other resources.User login module 103 collects player information and set up playeraccount and profile for a player in the central server 101 in the playerdatabase. User interface 105 provides a playing platform for a player toplace bets on various topics or events. The topic or event may be apublic event or any searchable internet event, and the outcome of whichis verifiable through search of the internet.

Advertiser and sponsors module 107 provides an interactive platform foradvertisers or sponsors to set up accounts in the central server 101,and for them to choose the programs to sponsor or to placeadvertisements in. Moneys are charged and paid through this module bythe sponsors and advertisers. Module 109 performs data input and searchfunctions to feed betting content to the central server or to the userinterface.

In reference to FIG. 2, after a player logs into his account, he isassigned for a certain amount of playing money. Each time when he logsin, an amount of play money is assigned to him. On its user interfaceincludes prior selected betting selections 201, most recent eventsselected by other players for betting 203, accumulated betting money205, winning history 207, available choices of betting period 211 forwinner selection. The interface also includes targeted advertisements209 based on the player profile and betting history.

FIG. 3 shows an example list of bettable events to be listed in module201 or 203 in FIG. 2. The events may directly include sports 301, games303, stock market 305 (going up or down tomorrow or on certain date),player defined events 307, such as “who will be next president.” or abettable television reality show where a person can place a bet onwhether a participant in a TV game show will answer a question correctlyor not, or which participant in the game show will be the “big” winner.

FIG. 4 shows an example user interface for searching for bettable sportevents or bettable TV game shows. The sport events or TV game shows maybe searched with keywords at 902, or may be listed via 904, or filteredvia 906 favorable settings, or searched via a given name in 908 or othercriteria such as listed from 910 to 918.

FIG. 5 shows another example for searching bettable sport events orbettable TV game shows. The interface also provides Google™ search forkeyword search on the internet for any sport events. Google™ search maybe included on other event categories, to provide a player definedbetting events.

FIG. 6 shows an example betting interface for placing bets. By clickingon a betting event, player enters into this page to place bets. 601displays the selected event to bet on, 603 lists the available bettingchoices from the event providers. The player places the amount of betsin 605, which will be stored in the central server database concerningthis player. The system will search the internet or data input from theproviders in the following weeks to decide the outcome of the bettingand whether the player has won. If the winner is proven to have won, theamount of bets in 605 will be placed in his betting money accounttogether with his other betting money.

In reference to FIG. 7, the system includes an interface for advertisersand sponsors, where an advertiser/sponsor can select betting selectionscurrently being bet on by players in 703 and pledge the amount money in705 for placing advertisement or in 707 for be being sponsors. Theamount of pledge may be suggested by the system. An advertiser orsponsor can check on the status of its currently already selectedbetting program/events in 701. The time period of advertising orsponsorship can be chosen through module 709.

In FIG. 8, it shows an example mechanism in deciding a winner. In module801 the player with highest play money may be selected to be the winnerfor each period time of one week, two weeks or one month, two months,etc and/or for a specified geographic area or if the player reaches aspecified break point. The result of winning is stored in 803 forawarding the available rewards from registered sponsors.

Each player's bet may be automatically awarded with the amount of betmoney after the system searching for the correct answer and reach anoutcome in a period of time. The player may cancel or kill its bet ifafter a period of time no outcome of correct answer is found.

As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the innovativeconcepts described in the present application can be modified and variedover a tremendous range of applications, and accordingly the scope ofpatented subject matter is not limited by any of the specific exemplaryteachings given. It is intended to embrace all such alternatives,modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scopeof the appended claims.

Additional general background, which helps to show variations andimplementations, may be found in the following US patent applicationpublications, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinfor all purposes: US 2008/0085770, US 2008/0066111, US 2008/0039192, US2007/0060380, US 2007/0293307.

None of the description in the present application should be read asimplying that any particular element, step, or function is an essentialelement which must be included in the claim scope: THE SCOPE OF PATENTEDSUBJECT MATTER IS DEFINED ONLY BY THE ALLOWED CLAIMS. Moreover, none ofthese claims are intended to invoke paragraph six of 35 USC section 112unless the exact words “means for” are followed by a participle.

The claims as filed are intended to be as comprehensive as possible, andNO subject matter is intentionally relinquished, dedicated, orabandoned.

1. An electronic entertainment betting device system, comprising: adevice for assigning a player an amount of play money when the playerlogs in to his betting account; a device having a user interface forsearching a betting event and placing a bet by the player; a device forregistering at least one sponsorship; a device for registering at leastone advertisement; a device for exposing the player to at least oneadvertisement; a device for searching outcome of the bet and awarding abet to the player in accordance with the outcome; and a device forselecting a winner who has the most play money in its account comparingto other players within a certain area code, timeframe, or breakpoint.2. The electronic entertainment betting device system of claim 1,wherein each of the devices are connected through the internet.
 3. Theelectronic entertainment betting device system of claim 1, wherein thesearching for bet event is performed by internet search-engine.
 4. Theelectronic entertainment betting device system of claim 1, wherein thebet event is a social event.
 5. The electronic entertainment bettingdevice system of claim 1, wherein the bet event is a sport.
 6. Theelectronic entertainment betting device system of claim 1, whereinsearching for outcome of the bet is performed by internet search-engine.7. A method for providing entertainment and advertisement, comprisingthe actions of: assigning a player an amount of play money when theplayer logs in to his betting account; having a user interface forsearching a betting event and placing a bet by the player; registeringfor at least one sponsorship; registering at least one advertisement;exposing the player to at least one advertisement; searching outcome ofthe bet and awarding a bet to the player in accordance with the outcome;and selecting a winner who has the most play money in its accountcomparing to other players within a certain area code, timeframe, orbreakpoint.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method is performedthrough the internet.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the action ofsearching for bet event is performed by internet search-engine.
 10. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the bet event is a social event.
 11. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the bet event is a sport event.
 12. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the action of searching for outcome of thebet is performed by internet search-engine.
 13. The method of claim 7 isperformed on a server-end user electronic system.